The Road to S-class Begins: Teresa's First Trial
---- It had already been a few hours since Teresa had been given the first trial to overcome along with the other S-class participants. However, her job had taken priority despite the limited amount of time she had to overcome this first obstacle in her path and she found herself in the middle of her class, giving them a lecture. While she spoke, her mind wandered away as she tried to think of possible paths to take to reach her goal and before she knew it her class was over and yet the most stressful part of her day was yet to come. Watching silently as the students of various ages began to make their way from the large room, she couldn't help but feel sad that her partner had decided not to take the trials alongside her, knowing the two working together would have had little difficulty covering one another's weaknesses and figuring out how to go about solving her current dilemma. Exiting the room and heading down the hall, she stopped to check out the bulletin board that sat outside her classroom. The absentminded action proving to gift her a promising lead from the list of clubs in front of her. While many seemed to be related to sports or other clubs one would expect to find in a list of school clubs but the one that stood out to her the most was that of the Oceanography Club. Following the name, she found the room number before looking down at her watch to see that club activities would be beginning within the hour, a lucky breakthrough for the previously stumped professor. She found her way to the club who occupied a small corner room of the third-floor science building. She knocked before entering and as she had suspected there was no one there quite yet but the sight of ocean maps of those surrounding Fiore pinned all over the walls gave her a bit of hope that her problem might find a quick solution. After looking over the maps for a few minutes her ears twitched at the sound of the door to the room opening. Turning to see a girl about the same height as herself, the woman's brunette hair pulled up into a ponytail. She wore a sweater with the school's name printed in bold letters across the chest and a plaid skirt with black tights underneath. "Good afternoon, Miss Stein." Hesitation in the girl's voice, a sign that she knew of Teresa and felt the same slight dislike for her as most students did, her strict nature giving her a bad reputation amongst the students. "Forgive my intrusion, I simply came to ask for your club's assistance in a matter of mine." She spoke in her kindest voice, having sensed the girl's hesitation. "The other members will be here in just a bit, but I can help you alone as best I can. Is something the matter?" "Since your club deals with things revolving around the ocean I was hoping you might be able to help me locate an island, a moving one that is. Such a large mass moving around would likely have an effect of currents, would it not?" "It would, I believe I know exactly what island you're talking about as well. The one owned by the former master of the guild you joined?" "That's correct, would you mind helping me locate it?" A slight smile appeared on the girl's face as she gave a nod before heading over to a stack of maps on the desk in the corner of the room. "Our club has been working with the oceanography club at Seaside University to keep track of changes in the oceans around Fiore for about a year now. The floating island happens to be a favorite topic of theirs due to the odd nature of the land mass and how it changes the ocean as it moves about." She spoke as she sorted through the maps before pulling one out and sitting it on the table. Several lines moved across the map all in different colors and going several different directions. This map shows the movements of the island since the club first discovered it was moving, which I believe was around the time of the first S-class trials for your guild, probably a little afterward but either way, they've been tracking it since then" "And where is it now?" "Right about...here." She pointed at a spot on the map near Dawn city, "That being said, we don't have the exact coordinates just yet but those should be coming in sometime next week." "Hm, I don't have that much time. You said it was right about here, in this area just off the coast?" "Correct. The local fishermen there will probably be able to point it out to you if you go there directly. If not, I doubt a boat trip around the area won't give you results. I mean, I doubt an island will be that hard to find." She spoke with a slight chuckle. Teresa nodded, "Thanks for your help..." "Makoto, Makoto Hasegawa. It was my Pleasure." "Thank you, Makoto, you were a great help," Teresa spoke as she shook hands with the girl before leaving her to her club activities and making her away back to her home to pack for the journey. She had less than thirty-four hours remaining to locate and step foot on the island to claim her spot on the next trial. After packing her things and making her way onto a train bound for Dawn city, the most she could do was try to relax. She had little idea if anyone else had a head start on her, the several hours she'd spent in class making that a possibility and while there was nothing mentioned about this being a race against one another, being the last to arrive would certainly look bad on her record both her own and that of the guild master who oversaw these trials. ... The train arrived in Dawn city with a screech as the train came to a stop at the small station. From the platform, she could look out over the water to see an island in the distance, though, whether this was indeed the island she was searching for or not remained to be seen but regardless of what lied ahead next, she had at least made it to the sea. Knowing there was no time to waste as the sun would no doubt begin setting within the next few hours, she made her way to the street bordering the beach in hopes of finding a fisherman that would be willing to take her to her destination. She tried a variety of places, most of her requests were met with vulgar comments and remarks that frustrated her greatly to the point she thought that it might be better to simply rent a boat herself but her lack of experience in maritime travel would only prove to make her task all the more difficult. Near the point of giving up, she sat down on the docks, letting her feet dangle over the water below. "Hey, you're the woman from earlier, right?" A young man's voice spoke behind her. "The one looking for a ride to that island over there?" Teresa let out a sigh, part of her expecting this conversation to end like the others had, with her holding back the urge to slap someone across the face. "That's right, what of it?" "You said you would pay, right? 15,000 ? That's not too bad a deal. Those older guys were stupid to turn you down. I heard that there's a guild holding something over on the island. I guess people are scared to go near it because of that? I know no one likes that island, ever since it floated here we've had a hard time fishing. The currents have changed direction so the fish ain't in their usual spots." The young man said with a shrug, "I don't really care personally, anyway, the offer still good or what?" Teresa looked back over to the island, "Yeah, I'd really like to get there soon. Can we leave within the hour?" "I'll have the boat ready in twenty minutes, just head over there." He spoke, pointing at a small boat over at the corner of the docks. It wasn't anything special by any means but it was good enough to get her where she wanted to go. "Thank you," Teresa spoke, letting the young man walk away. Within the timeframe that the young man had set, the two were off toward the island. The orange sun had found itself hovering just above the horizon, creating a fire in the sky as the orange and red colors danced in the sky and reflected off the water with only the distant island as to block the light and change from the lush green she'd seen from the station to a black silhouette. The sight reminded her that she had no idea what would await her once she reached the island, knowing that what she was doing now was simply the beginning of the trials and that she likely had much greater hardships to look forward to. Suddenly it all felt a bit cold as she wished Alyssa could have joined her in taking the trials, knowing she'd feel much safer with a close ally having her back, one that made up for all of her weaknesses. Distracted by her thoughts, she hadn't even realized the boat docked on the beach of the moving island. Hopping down she felt the sand beneath her heels, the island air was fresh and a bit tropical despite being in the northern seas of Fiore. Paying the young Fisherman, she thanked him for bringing her before he responded with a nod before taking off back toward the mainland. Only having been instructed to reach the island, she decided it best not to wander around just yet and instead found a place to rest before beginning to eat a bit of the food she had packed herself.